Sixteen Willets were sighted on our park this Saturday, April 24th!
Willets are a rare sighting for our area. They are a large shorebird from the family, Scolopacidae. They get their name from their pill-will-willet call.
Like Killdeer, Willets will pretend to be disabled by pretending they have a broken wing to draw attention to themselves and lure predators away from their young or their eggs. They typically feed along sandy beaches, mudflats, marshes, and rocky coasts. They typically winter on both coasts but, breed primarily in freshwater habitats of the western states and provinces. They typically migrate with very few stops until they reach their destination, but severe weather probably grounded them in our area on Saturday. Photo Credit by Andrew Lydeard.
If you would like to document a rare species in our area please contact Park Ranger, Gina Lowry at regina.lowry@tn.gov.
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